Green Listing 2024 - Joint Thread (1 Viewer)

[Paul Chapman]

At the end of a two hour walk, a distant bird of prey circled up and heading north:-

103. Marsh Harrier 6th May

This is also 125 for the UK.

All the best

Paul

I have done a decent walk on patch on 16 occasions since my last On Foot yeartick on 6th May.........

104. Mandarin Duck 31st May

An astonishingly quiet period. Frighteningly so.

All the best

Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

Two in two days...

105. Red Kite 1st June

Two seen on my afternoon walk (terrible pic) after one over the cafe this morning (better pic) but I drove there....

All the best

Paul

 

[Xenospiza]

I am still failing to find Grasshopper Warbler, but I'm already on three sightings for Spoonbill on my local patch. I could do with a genuine surprise by now though!

 

[Xenospiza]

I think a pair of Bee-eaters counts as a real surprise.

 

[Xenospiza]

Not as great a find for me as it would be for people following German or British counting styles, but a Mandarin Duck on my local patch was the first in eight years.

 

[Swindon Addick]

This year has been a bit of a disaster for birding on foot - a general election right after the regular local elections left me with few enough opportunities to get out that I couldn't resist the urge to drive to places. But today I finally managed the relatively short detour needed to see species number 37, or 38 if you count escapees: Common Swift in the one place in Swindon they can still be seen reliably.

 

[Xenospiza]

A not too quiet morning on the local patch got a lot more exciting when two incoming egrets had yellow feet and black legs.
Unfortunately the local Great White Egret did not appreciate them landing!
Little Egre was new for the patch list.

 

[Xenospiza]

Common Sandpiper was a rather silly addition to the year list today.
It's possible all year around here, but I was away during spring migration.

 

[Richard Prior]

Been neglecting the thread since May, so have updated today, a few new ones for Europe - with an Alpine flavour (apart from the Red-footed Falcons which passed through in May!):

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Red-footed Falcon

Bonelli's Warbler

Griffon Vulture

Pygmy Owl

Alpine Swift

Black Vulture

 

[Xenospiza]

Been neglecting the thread since May, so have updated today, a few new ones for Europe - with an Alpine flavour (apart from the Red-footed Falcons which passed through in May!):

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Red-footed Falcon

Bonelli's Warbler

Griffon Vulture

Pygmy Owl

Alpine Swift

Black Vulture

I must have missed a flock of 45 (!) Griffon Vultures by not too many miles in June...

Red-footed Falcon is one of those birds that I should have found locally by now, but it is a nemesis like Hoopoe or Ortolan Bunting.

 

[Xenospiza]

No addition to my green list today as the targeted Black-necked Grebes had moved on, but my day was a success with my first sighting of a Quail in northern Europe (NL, UK, DE). I had seen them elsewhere (my first 40 years ago on a grassy mountain top near Samoëns, France).
A good day for hard-to-see birds: a Water Rail with six downy chicks on my local patch was fun as well.

 

[Xenospiza]

With seven Black-necked Grebes showing up at the same gravel pit today, I made the trip again.

While on site, I was asked if I was "Swiss or something" by a German woman who was actually married to a Dutchman, so my accent must be improving!

 

[Xenospiza]

The fifth Purple Heron for my local patch lightened up a pretty quiet morning.

 

[Xenospiza]

The fifth Purple Heron for my local patch lightened up a pretty quiet morning.

The Purple Heron pulled in a few extra visitors, but it has been a pain to see. I only managed to see it again yesterday (thanks to a regular visitor who isn't much of a twitcher, but has the required attitude).
An incoming thunderstorm caught up with me before I got home, but the truly diluvial downpour only started when I was safely inside.

 

[Xenospiza]

The advantage of being away at the height of spring migration: having to find these birds in autumn. Whinchat returned to the patch today!

 

[Xenospiza]

Bycatch of the yearly office barbecue: a Barn Owl on the way home!

 

[Xenospiza]

Curlew Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper on a nice new site near the Rhine. Just a bit too far away to be fun at 30 °C!

 

[Xenospiza]

A new bird for my local patch, though at its most minimal: a heard-only Dotterel this evening.

 

[Xenospiza]

There is quite an influx of Red-footed Falcon at the moment, although they are mostly keeping to the löss-covered edges of the hills in Northrhine-Westphalia: Rotfußfalke 2024 - www.ornitho.de
That shouldn't stop me from searching locally. Today I tried the slag heap, where I found my first Ortolan Bunting for Germany. Thirty years ago it would have been easy...

 

[Paul Chapman]

Two in two days...

105. Red Kite 1st June

Two seen on my afternoon walk (terrible pic) after one over the cafe this morning (better pic) but I drove there....

All the best

Paul

Quite a gap but I will try & pull my finger out a bit when I am around for the rest of the autumn. Any way. A quick half mile walk at lunchtime on news resulted in 106 on foot from home & 127 for the UK:-

106. Wryneck

Also my second Marsh Harrier of the year.

All the best

Paul